I am celebrating 1700 followers on my Instagram Feed by making a small journal about the month of November 2015. The journal will be used as the prize in a random draw. It is a free giveaway that I do to celebrate every 100 followers
This journal is hand stitched I used four pages of random papers and a heavier weight card cover. I usually make these as letter journals which are 8″x4″ so that they fit in a business letter envelope and are cheap to post abroad.
I decided to go with the format of the original pages – the finished book is European A5 size
( approx 8″x5.5″)
When I journal in this format it is usually a record of a holiday or short break. I use an old book and repurpose it layering the pages with found papers , doodles and images.
I add doodles from what ever theme /design I am doing at that moment. ( it changes constantly – I normally have some type of cartoon theme and mandalas on the go at anyone time) I use ticket stubs from public transport, the cinema, exhibitions etc. Then I cut up free leaflets – any type of woman and home magazines for text , lettering and individual words.
The finished pages look a bit like how my feel a brain feels at any one moment , too many layers, ideas and colours. The finished book is not linear representation – however Jon was amused that I got something in about standup in this month.( he was doing a Bright Club comedy routine again )
A lot of the time I work in an intuitive way , randomly thinking about colour, shape and design rather that what is going on at that moment. It can feel quite haphazard during the process, but I surprise my self when I look back at how relevant words and phrases creep in.
This month I visited London to stay with my brother , Skye with Jon, and we live in Edinburgh so there is a Scottish edge.
Motifs: I decided I wanted to learn to draw a ‘Tess’ style of face so I practicing on lots of white stickers that I use to cover up old addresses on envelopes. These feature through out.
I found a couple of interesting books and leaflets – one about how music has influenced your life – in terms of you writing lists of songs – for example – ‘what music would you have at your funeral?’
I also found The Benefit make up Christmas advertising freebie – which was full of colour, great text and vintage type ladies.
I don’t always add my photographs to my journals – but I printed out some of my ‘texture / close element photo grids’ that I make on the Pic-Stitch App. These give a flavour of place and mean that I can post 6 or 9 pictures at a time – I use them on my Instagram feed so that I don’t with out bore everybody with a constant stream of images – I post 4 or 5 times a day as it is .
This grid format has become a feature on my IG feed.It is a short cut , a snap shot – a friend of mine -a graphic designer – commented the other day that she liked the grids, but didn’t use them because they would take to long to make on photoshop……I love my phone apps
When I have built up some layers I doodle , hand write and then add more layers , sometimes to cover up or add a feature. I answered some of the questions in the list your songs book and then wanted to hide the answers- if I wasn’t giving the journal away I would probably have left the words legible
The pages feel nice when you run your fingers over the layers. I use cheap PVA glue , this means that the pages don’t stick together too much and stuff doesn’t fall off.
The giveaway journal has a layer of Modge Podge ( expensive American PVA) on the cover – I love the effect of the glue- it makes everything mesh together
NB. It is a nightmare if you use it inside because the finished pages tend to stick together. A friend suggested waxing pages or using grease proof paper but that would make the finished journal very bulky
I made the journal with the intention of giving it away- I found the one I was working in at the time didn’t want to leave me yet. It is an example of how I can work rather than an authentic representation of November 2015
tesswyatt's Blog 